Ocean Health Index

open data science tools and resources

for marine science and management

What is the Ocean Health Index?

The Ocean Health Index ('OHI') is a scientific framework used to measure how healthy oceans are. Understanding the state of our oceans is a first step towards ensuring they can continue providing humans benefits now and in the future.

Where have OHI assessments been done?

We've led global OHI assessments of 220 coastal nations and territories every year since 2012, and also lead OHI assessments at smaller scales.

Additionally, we share code and provide training and support for independent groups interested in leading their own OHI assessments. These are called independent OHI assessments, or 'OHI+ assessments'.

Open data science for marine science and management

The OHI is transforming the way marine science streamlines with coastal management by leveraging practices and tools from open science and data science. We work openly online and have shared our story in publications and blogs. We teach these practices and tools to groups leading OHI+ assessments.

News

Overview

In 2018, we launched the Ocean Health Index Fellows Program and we (Melanie Frazier and Julie Lowndes) led its first-ever cohort of three Fellows. The Fellows conducted the annual global assessment using our open data science tools and workflows. The Fellows successfully calculated global OHI scores for 2018 while learning important skills that are valuable to the global OHI team, as well as the broader environmental data science community.

The Ocean Health index (OHI) is a framework that uses data science principles to measure how sustainably we are using ocean resources. This definition highlights two main points: data science principles and ocean resource management. As an OHI Global Fellow, we were trained on the data science tools and workflows OHI uses to conduct the annual global assessment.